


The L Word

by chucks_prophet



Category: Supernatural
Genre: ASL, American Sign Language, Dean to the Rescue, F/M, Fluff and Humor, I've Written Lesbian 7 Times in this Fic I Counted, Light Angst, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Sam Winchester Being an Idiot, Shipper Dean Winchester, clueless Sam Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22065292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chucks_prophet/pseuds/chucks_prophet
Summary: One day, while they’re researching a case in the library, Eileen pops the question.At first, she wonders if Sam doesn’t understand what she’s saying. After all, she did sign the whole thing. Perhaps it was bold of her to assume Sam was a little more fluent in ASL, but then the wrinkles in his forehead like creases in freshly pressed bed sheets she just wants to wrap herself in flatten to accommodate the raise of his eyebrows. He visibly takes a breath and faces Eileen with a sad smile.Sorry, he says with the flat of his fist moving languidly against his chest. “I didn’t… I should’ve never…"
Relationships: Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	The L Word

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year!!!
> 
> I'm obviously on a roll this week. I wanted to try and squeeze in one more inspired by ya girl's new favorite ship, but oh well. Consider this an amazing start to a brand new year of fics.

Eileen is tired.

More than what she assumes is a natural undead sort of tired that comes with being brought back to life through an ancient Wiccan spell; she’s tired of this runaround. She’s tired of stolen glances and innocuous flirting. She’s tired of skirting around this omnipresent love triangle between her, Sam, and this Thing.

Most of all, she’s tired of waiting for Sam to make a move.

So, one day, while they’re researching a case in the library, Eileen pops the question.

_Do you wanna go for lunch?_

At first, she wonders if Sam doesn’t understand what she’s saying. After all, she did sign the whole thing. Perhaps it was bold of her to assume Sam was a little more fluent in ASL, but then the wrinkles in his forehead like creases in freshly pressed bed sheets she just wants to wrap herself in flatten to accommodate the raise of his eyebrows. He visibly takes a breath and faces Eileen with a sad smile.

 _Sorry,_ he says with the flat of his fist moving languidly against his chest. “I didn’t… I should’ve never…”

Stunned to silence, Eileen grasps the air for something, anything that’ll make sense right now. But her attempt at forming words turns up fruitless. She slams her textbook closed and storms out. And she doesn’t stop until she bumps into Dean, who’s just returned from the dungeon with the ingredients for their latest spell—effectively dumping over a jar of dried mugwort.

“Sorry, I—”

“Hey, hey,” Dean calls. He looks like he’s about to tack an outdated reference onto those first couple words, judging by the smirk that quickly irons out when he sees her face. “What’s going on? What did I miss?”

Eileen doesn’t slow down on her trek to her room. She ascends the staircase with heavy, determined strides and speed walks until she’s at her bedside, on which she flops down and buries her head in her hands as she plays through the last few months. How could she have read the signs wrong? He’s shared multiple drinks with her, discussed their equally uncertain futures—hell, he’s even risked his _life_ for her multiple times.

But then again, aren’t those all things all hunters do together given the circumstances anyway? She hasn’t been around enough hunters to know.

Maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s her lack of experience… as a hunter?

Just before she really begins to spiral, one of said hunters appears in her doorway.

“I, uh… I would’ve knocked, but… you know.”

Eileen rolls her eyes and wipes her face and— _when_ had she started crying?

Dean eyes the other edge of the bed. Eileen hesitates before she finds herself nodding. Then, Dean is sitting a safe but still somehow intimate distance from her. Dean can be forward with his words, but with his actions is certainly… new.

Eileen studies him as she turns to face him. Like Sam, in the soft glow of the night engulfing her room, she can see the profound wrinkles in the eldest’s face. But also, something she perhaps didn’t notice in Sam’s… profound joy. It’s in the creases etched around his eyes, rather than his forehead or mouth. They become really prominent when he starts speaking.

“You know… I’ve never seen my brother so happy.”

He pauses to laugh.

“I… I remember when we were kids. There was this toy Sam had always wanted. _G.I. Jack Mega Space Trooper._ But of course, being hunters, we couldn’t afford it. And there’s no way we’d convince Dad to get it for us. Not even on Christmas. He’d say, ‘ _Be grateful that you’re alive. That’s a gift in itself_.’ Which, of course, is a sentiment that doesn’t hold up long in our line of trouble.

So one year, I broke. I opened another credit card in my dad’s name and I bought him that damn toy. And let me tell you… single best decision of my life. The kid lit up from head to chubby toe. It was worth the hell my dad gave me when he found out.”

Eileen can’t help the small smile crossing her face imagining a significantly smaller Sam, eyes alight with something other than the internal fire, lit by pain and guilt, that’s consuming him all the time.

“What I’m saying is,” he continues, leaning in with a smirk of his own, “you make him even happier than _G.I. Jack Mega Space Trooper.”_

Eileen’s smile’s quick to fade. She shakes her head as she replies, “But he said it himself. He doesn’t want anything to do with me… in _that_ way, anyway.”

“Beg your pardon?”

“I asked him on a date—because frankly, I was tired of waiting for him to ask me—and he rejected me.”

Dean’s lips purse into a fine line as he leans forward with new intrigue. “What exactly did he say?”

“Well, not a lot,” she says, “but enough for me to get the hint.”

“What exactly did _you_ say?”

Eileen sighs. “I asked him if he wants to go to lunch,” she says, signing it for emphasis.

Dean shakes his head. “Wait, wait. Sign that again.”

“What?”

“Lunch. Sign ‘lunch’ again.”

Confused but compliant, Eileen signs it again.

“Oh my God.”

“What?”

“I know why he’s upset,” Dean laughs and now she’s getting angrier, “He… he thought you signed ‘lesbian’.”

Eileen throws her head back. That certainly defuses her anger, but it only makes her more confused. “What?! That’s not the sign for lesbian.”

“ _I_ know that’s not the sign for lesbian, but he doesn’t. You know how similar they are.”

“How do _you_ know the sign for ‘lesbian’?”

Dean opens his mouth and his smile is quick to fade into a bright red shade of embarrassment.

Eileen dismisses it with the wave of her hand. “Another story for another time. Wait… but that doesn’t make sense. Sam was upset because he thought I asked him……… _oh.”_

“You give Sam too much credit,” Dean chuckles, “he’s not as smart as everyone thinks.”

“He thought I asked him if… he knew he was pursuing a lesbian woman.”

“Well,” Dean says after a pause, “what’re you gonna do… the strong, powerful lesbian woman you are?”

Eileen raises a finger. “Hey now.”

Just before he leaves the room, Dean rests a hand on Eileen’s shoulder. She looks up in time to see him… to her surprise… signing something with his hands.

But just as quickly as she’s impressed, she’s completely underwhelmed.

Of course he’d learn the sign for sex.

“I’ve been practicing that one,” he says, grinning, obviously impressed with _himself_ regardless, “I knew one of you would need the extra kick in the ass.”

When Eileen storms back downstairs, it’s with a wall-slamming, hair-pulling, mouth-bruising mess of a kiss.

“How’s that for a _lesbian?”_

**Author's Note:**

> I should say thank you to my instructor for American Sign Language in college who warned us not to confuse 'lesbian' with 'lunch'. This was inspired by him.
> 
> Who knew learning ASL would come in handy... in... this way.


End file.
